The present invention generally relates to towing of a performer by a vessel, and more particularly to enhancing performance of the performer using a water sport implement while maintaining stability of the vessel.
Wakeboarding has become one of the fastest growing sports in the world. In the sport of wakeboarding, there is an ever increasing need for the tow boat to create a larger wake to ride. Unlike waterskiing, the performer on a wakeboard is looking for as large a wake as possible. Further, by anchoring the tow line at a high elevation above the boat deck, the greater the ability of the performer to lift higher into the air, whether with a ski or wakeboard.
Tow rope pylons are known in the art, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,577 to Jennings and U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,597 to Paxton. A typical skiing and wakeboarding pylon has a height of approximately three feet to eight above the floor of the boat. Pylon heights have increased to accommodate the ever increasing height of jumps across the wake by wakeboarders. The extended pylons run a cable from the top of the pylon to the bow of the boat as a guy wire. This wire interferes with movement inside the boat. Further, these extended height pylons have not satisfied wakeboarders with their performance. They do give the performer the ability to get bigger air on the jumps, but the extended pylons flex too much when the performer cuts away or to the wake. During these cuts, the boat heels to a point of instability for the boat and a hazard for all concerned. The guy wire provides support when the skier is pulling straight back, but offers less support when the skier is pulling from the side.
The simplest way to increase the size of the wake is to increase the amount of weight inside a boat. Typically, this has been done by adding lots of people. Alternatively, the industry""s response has been to include water bladders in the boat or other weighting materials such as buckets filled with concrete, rocks, or sand.
In one bladder system, a liner is placed inside of a canvas sack or bag. Filling the liner full of water by use of a bilge pump with hoses, wires and clips, can add weight to the back of a boat. However, this process is awkward and cumbersome. Another attempt at adding weight to the back of a boat is believed to include two gates on a transom of a boat. A cable is pulled to open the two gates and thereby flood two tanks located behind the transom of the boat. The tanks are drained by opening the gates. This system required a four foot high boat hull, where typical sports towing boats have a transom or hull height of only thirty inches from bottom to top of the gunwale.
As described, by way of example with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,003 to Grinde, it is known to add water for ballasting, typically uniformly along the length of the boat or forward, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,927 to Lizuka et al. for enhancing the planing of the vessel. Typically ballast pumps are used to control the amount of water within the ballasting, as described, by way of example, with reference to U.S. Pat. No. 5,215,025 to Talmor.
It is typically thought that by simply adding more weight to the boat, the wake will become bigger and better. However, the shape of the wake is as important as the size. The perfect slope, length and hardness of the lip of a wake are also important to enable the performer to release from the wake and achieve a desired launch into the air. Further, it is important that wake control be done in a relatively rapid and timely manner, not available with use of a typical ballast pump. During periods of non-performance by a performer, there is a need to improve travel between performance locations, whether over water or by trailer, without having to disassemble and then reassemble pylons and pylon rigging.
In view of the foregoing background, it is therefore an object of the present invention to improve the aerial characteristics of a performance by a performer using a water sport implement, such as a wakeboard or ski, by way of example, and being towed by a vessel while maintaining the stability of the vessel.
This and other objects, features, and advantages of the invention, are provided by a method aspect of the invention comprising the steps of providing a vessel behind which the performer is to be towed, the vessel including a bow, a stern and an operator station between opposing sides, and fitting a first relatively rigid vertical support structure to a first one of the sides and fitting a second relatively rigid vertical support structure to a second one of the sides, and then extending a generally horizontal bridging portion between upper extremities of the first and second vertically extending support structures, at a height substantially above the level of the operator station. A tow rope is attached to the horizontally extending bridging portion, and the vessel is operated in a body of water while towing the performer from the horizontally extending bridging portion.
An apparatus of the present invention comprises a vessel behind which the performer is to be towed, the vessel including a bow, a stern and an operator station between opposing sides, a first relatively rigid vertical support structure fitted to a first one of the sides of the vessel, a second relatively rigid vertical support fitted structure to a second one of the sides of the vessel, and a generally horizontal bridging portion extending between upper extremities of the first and second vertically extending support structures, at a height substantially above the level of the operator station. A tow rope is attached to the horizontally extending bridging portion for towing the performer from the horizontally extending bridging portion while operating the vessel in a body of water.
In an alternate embodiment, the apparatus further comprises pivotally attaching means for attaching the first and second generally vertically extending support structures to the respective sides of the vessel, so as to permit the first and second support structures to be rotated downwardly so that the vessel may pass underneath a bridge or into a boat house. Improvements to the rotatable feature of the present invention are provided by yet another preferred embodiment, wherein a towing apparatus comprises a vertical support rigidly dimensioned for rigidly attaching to a vessel at a location proximate an operator station of the vessel, a frame for extending upwardly from the vertical support to a height substantially above the level of the operator station, and attaching means for attaching the frame to the vertical support, the attaching means rigidly attaching the frame to the vertical support in an operating position for towing the performer, while permitting the frame to be rotated about the vertical support into a stored position on a deck of the vessel for reducing a height clearance of the vessel.
In one preferred embodiment, the coupling means comprise a ball and socket assembly carried by a first proximal end of the frame. The ball and socket assembly include a ball carried by the frame, a socket carried by the vertical support, and a shaft extending through the socket. The shaft has a distal end for engaging the ball and a proximal end for manipulating the shaft into and out of engagement with the ball for readily removable attachment of the ball with the socket and thus the frame with the vertical supports. A knob is attached to the proximal end of the shaft, and a compression spring carried by the shaft and positioned between the knob and the socket for biasing the proximal end away from the socket. A pivotal linkage assembly operable between the frame and vertical support is positioned for rotating the frame about the vertical support when the shaft is disengaged from the ball.